Vah Racials: Fishing and Broken Night Vision

[Grinkles]

The Vah are almost certainly one of the least popular races among players. Two simple changes to their racial traits could help to boost their appeal in a minor way while also adding further diversity/flavor among the races.

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Suggestion #1: Give the Vah an innate Fishing skill of 50.

When racial bonuses were rejigged back in 2010, SoD's developers overlooked a golden opportunity -- surely, the Vah should've received +50 Fishing! Here's my argument:

1) The Mountain Crags of Tarhyl, the home of the Vah, is the only city with a substantial amount of citizens that fish. This makes sense, given their scenic fishing conditions, as seen here:

2) Fishing is woven into the lore of the Vah city unlike any other race, including repeatable quests that involve hunting several species of fish. One of these quest NPCs even says, "Fishin's in our blood, y'know." Here are some screenshots of the dialog these NPCs offer to support this claim:

3) The Vah starting area contains more varieties of fish NPCs than any other city and even most fishing hotspots across Dalaya:

4) Real-world cats have a well-known affinity for catching and eating fish. I don't think this needs an example, but here's a video of an Asian fishing cat pulling dead fish out from under the water:

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Suggestion #2: Upgrade Vah vision to Ultravision permanently.

According to Woldo, Vah are supposed to receive the following bonuses:

VAH SHIR
Infravision during day, Ultravision at night.
Consumes food faster
50 or +10% after 50 to Safe Fall
50 or +10% after 50 to Sneak
+2% Healing Ability at night.
+2% Haste at night.

I have just confirmed that this supposed vision change at night doesn't work, and it probably never did. The following images were taken seconds apart at 12 AM (midnight) in game:

Currently, the Vah receive only Infravision, putting their night vision on par with Halflings, Ogres, and so on. Not to go full nerd or anything, but here's a Wikipedia quote that specifically says that feline vision is weakest near the red (as in infrared) end of the spectrum and strongest near the blue/violet (as in ultraviolet) end:

Cats are able to distinguish between blues and violets better than between colors near the red end of the spectrum. A 2014 study found that, along with several other mammals, cats lenses transmit significant amounts of ultraviolet (UVA 315–400 nm) light, which suggests that they possess sensitivity to this part of the spectrum.

So, why not simply upgrade Vah vision to Ultravision permanently?

 

[Draeos]

Vision related stuff is client side. They'd need a buff or a worn effect to get ultravision.

 

[Kedrin]

Step 1) Delete the Vah Race
Step 2) ?
Step 3) Profit

 

[Ludovician]

The most complex excuse I've ever seen for posting a cat video.

 

[Masuriya]

The barbarians and the vah should go to war against each other and all die, it'd solve the cat AND barbarian problem in one fell swoop.

 

[fxattack]

Consumes food faster (with a high rate of regurgitation)?

 

[Grinkles]

Vision related stuff is client side. They'd need a buff or a worn effect to get ultravision.

I suspect you're right, but then why did the staff claim in official notes for one of the biggest patches in server history that Vah would get a nighttime vision boost in the first place? Even though it seems it never worked in the first place, someone on the staff (likely Woldo or Cyzaine) must've labored under the assumption that it was possible and that it had been successfully implemented during that patch.

Then again, lots of racial bonuses (including many of the nicer ones) are broken. Takes away from the strategizing that goes into choosing a race when you realize that a fair amount of the "bonuses" you're promised are non-existent once you enter The Dream. I'd love to see a patch in the future that combs through the entire list of racial bonuses to make doubly sure they're all working properly, but now is probably not the best time to make such a request.

 

[Daffie]

I suspect you're right, but then why did the staff claim in official notes for one of the biggest patches in server history that Vah would get a nighttime vision boost in the first place? Even though it seems it never worked in the first place, someone on the staff (likely Woldo or Cyzaine) must've labored under the assumption that it was possible and that it had been successfully implemented during that patch.

Then again, lots of racial bonuses (including many of the nicer ones) are broken. Takes away from the strategizing that goes into choosing a race when you realize that a fair amount of the "bonuses" you're promised are non-existent once you enter The Dream. I'd love to see a patch in the future that combs through the entire list of racial bonuses to make doubly sure they're all working properly, but now is probably not the best time to make such a request.

Which of the bonuses other than cat night vision do you know for sure are broken? (I wonder if anyone did racial bonus testing for the 2.5 migration...)

 

[narmarratuk]

How about fleas? If they do not shower often they get fleas which will inflict random dots! You will get a message saying your fur is thick and brings an unpleasant smell, kinda like out of food and water message. If the message is ignored, and the player does not submerge into a body of water within some time then they get fleas. The longer the fleas are ignored the stronger the dot will be. If you die from it, you get a message stating "You have been eaten by your fifty fleas". You can also pass fleas to other Van pkayers. If you are a Van and got fleas from another player you will get the following emote "You have acquired filthy %t's filthy fleas!". Just keeping it real.